Less Time

I miss Caleb.

Technically, I'm around him even more than I used to be. He doesn't have preschool or even church time that he's away from me.

But my time with him is different. It's more divided. We have to share, as I focus on schoolwork with Calista and Craig.

There's less time for the littlest.

Less time for cuddles and reading together.

Less time for falling asleep in my arms and walks with just the two of us.

Less time cooking and playing.

Less time for Dinosaur Train and laundry.


And I miss him.

Spring-less, Break-less

It's Friday of Spring Break. Or, it's supposed to be.
Traditionally, this week is one of unplugged adventures with the kiddos. We:

• play in lots of playgrounds
• go to the library at least once
• visit Daddy downtown - including taking the train and eating lunch!
• go to the zoo
• read a LOT - 100 books sometimes!
• go screen free
• play and have fun!

It feels like we can't do anything. The zoo, library, national and provincial parks, all the playgrounds: CLOSED. Kyler's working from home, so we can't go visit him. And, then there's the weather.

It's the Friday of Spring Break. Have you forgotten?

Because I have.

A memory of snow

One week ago, I dropped Calista off at the church for Primary Activities and then headed to the nearby mall to hang out with 3 other moms. We had a blast, eating ice cream, laughing, and loudly disparaging the recurring fashions from our youth we found on display again in the department stores. When we got back to the church, we found that the girls had ended a little early. Calista was ready to go, but before we left, she wanted to go outside and watch the snow fall.
It was a lovely, perfect, fluffy snowfall, with huge flakes that just begged to be caught on your tongue. Of course, Calista couldn't ignore the invitation, and started jumping around, tongue out, in a mission to catch the perfect flake. I watched her from inside for a while, amused. And then I decided to go out and tell her it was time to go: it was already bedtime.
As I asked her if she was ready, she said, "Not quite. In a minute." And, in that moment, I did something I'm rather proud of: I didn't rush her home, but instead I waited outside with her, watching her catch snowflakes.

Her enthusiasm was contagious, and I found myself looking up at the snowflakes, unable to resist the urge to catch them myself. 10 minutes went by, as other parents came into the church, and left again, watching us incredulously. We caught, and missed, countless snowflakes, until our faces and hair were soaking wet. We laughed and loved and then, finally, we really did leave.
On the drive home, I said to Calista, "Thank you. Thank you for letting me catch snowflakes with you. It is a memory I want to keep forever." It was, by far, the best part of my day.

We Wish You A...

Merry Christmas!

What a busy time of year, which means this will be a busy post.

First, we'll start with decorating the tree.

We decorated it earlier than I'd planned to, because we put up our outside decorations in mid-November. You've got to take advantage of warm weather when you've got it!

And, of course, once the outside stuff was out, Craig begged to set up everything inside,  too.

And who am I to argue?

It takes up space, but it also seems so festive!

I love the glow of the lights.


Also making life busy this time of year: Christmas concerts.  We had 2 concerts to attend the first being Caleb's.

He was dressed as a shepherd, sat down half the time, tried to fix the ears of the sheep in front of him, and came running off the stage to give Daddy a hug partway through.

Oh, little askew shepherd! Go back and sing!

We also had Craig and Calista's to attend.

With Caleb, which wasn't always easy, though was sometimes amusing.

Like when he loudly repeated what Kyler and I had been whispering, "Stop picking your nose, Craig!"

Craig, despite picking his nose a bit, did very well.

He wasn't the loudest singer of the bunch, but he clearly knew the words, so that's something.
Calista, of course, was in her element.

She sang, did the motions, and played recorder.

Which, while I did catch on video, I am not subjecting you to. No one really wants to hear an entire class of 8-year-olds try to play recorder in "unison."

My kiddos did so well at their concerts, though, even if only a parent would appreciate it.


On the Sunday before Christmas, I made my children dress nicely, sit still and took pictures of them, as I usually do.

Well, mostly sit still. I'm pretty sure Craig was vibrating.

But they sat well enough for me,

And I got some pretty decent pictures.

And I only yelled at them a little bit.


For Christmas itself, we headed down to Raymond. This meant we got to participate in the traditional Rasmussen Family Christmas Eve get-together and talent show.

Craig told us weeks beforehand that he wanted to dance, and even practiced - a little. And had a lot of fun.

Calista practiced a lot, and had a whole variation on Ode to Joy planned, but got nervous and just did the basic version. But still did awesome!

And they also had fun playing with the handbells that their cousins used, too.


Christmas Day itself was low key and wonderful.

Everyone loved all of their presents, and were able to play with them all for quite a while.

Also, we may now have a magician in the house.

So tricky!
Also on our Christmas to-do list was to go for a family walk.

It was chilly, but good. Which is what Christmas in Alberta invariably is.

Merry Christmas!

Something Wicked This Way Comes

This year for Halloween, we had Princess Anna from Frozen, a dragon, and a dinosaur.

The last two costumes were ones we already owned. I didn't mind that!

Craig begged to have a Halloween party, the day before it would have to be. At first I said no, but then I stopped and thought a bit. Why not? A party doesn't have to be fancy!

So we threw something together and had a blast. We carved "pepper-o-lantern"s, ate pizza, and watched a movie.

And now Caleb, when he sees bell peppers at the grocery store, calls them pumpkins... whoops. Craig is already planning the party for next year.


Craig also decided we should carve watermelons as a family this year.

I think he just wanted to eat it, but why not humor the 6-year-old in a few things?

Craig designed the face all by himself, and Calista designed and cut out her watermelon, (mostly) all by herself.

Caleb didn't design or cut one.

He just ate watermelon.

Everyone was pretty happy with that arrangement.

Caleb decided months ago that he wanted to be a dragon, and has routinely asked "is it Halloween yet?" since.

He also dressed as a lion for his preschool "Noah's Ark" party.

This confused him a bit, since it was before Halloween, so when Halloween morning came, Caleb thought the day had already happened.


Craig took longer to decide on a costume, but was pretty happy with his choice.

And he was actually a dinosaur INSIDE a dinosaur!

Tricky!


Calista, of course, was Anna.

I say "of course" because she planned out 6 years of costumes when she was four. This is year 5 of 6.

She was pretty happy with her choice, and so was I, since I managed to find the costume on sale for FIVE bucks!


It was fairly nice on Halloween, but I insisted on everyone wearing gloves/mittens. After a few minutes, it became clear I was correct. The best house was probably this "spooky house."

They really go all out every year! The kiddos love it.

After just a few blocks, the buckets were full so we headed home.
Happy Halloween!